Fernando Santos Appointed as new Portugal Coach
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| Fernando Santos |
The 59-year-old replaces Paulo Bento who was in charge of the team during the 2014 World Cup.
Portugal suffered an early exit from the finals, finishing behind Germany and USA.
Germany went on to win the tournament following a 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina in the final.
Santos who led Greece to the last 16 of the finals, was handed an eight-game ban following his dismissal in their defeat to Costa Rica in the second round.
He admitted that while the situation is unfamiliar that he has full confidence in his assistant Ilidio Vale, as they look to qualify for the 2016 European Championships in France.
His first game in charge will be against France in October.
The new Portugal coach said he is very happy to be the coach of his country that it was always his dream "It's a honour for me and an enormous pride to take on this position but much more than that to be able to serve my country. It's really a very emotional moment for me, it's something I always dreamed of, it's something that fortunately I'm accomplishing today and I hope to give my contribution to my country and mainly to the Portuguese football. I will do everything in my power so that will happen and this is a moment of great happiness for me both personally and professionally."
He have been tasked to qualify Portugal to Euro 2016 which will take place in France
"There is a very concrete goal, as Mr President (of the Portuguese FA) also put it, and that is to be present in France (Euro 2016) and in France is where we shall be in 2016 to give great pride to the Portuguese people."
the former Greece coach was handed 8 match ban following his dismissal in their defeat to Costa Rica in the second round of 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
"We will see what is going to happen regarding my punishment. Obviously we had that in consideration when I talked with the President, we had that in mind. We can't say it's all normal because it's not but we also know that we have the weapons to fight that in a good way and that will not affect the team performance. Therefore, I have total confidence in Ilidio (Vale, Portugal assistant coach). He will be on the bench when I won't be but I don't think that will be an obstacle despite not being completely normal (situation)."
